


In Need of Sympathy

by vix_spes



Series: The Model and the Spy [9]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-15 13:26:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3448823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Feeling sick and with Gwaine away, Leon allows himself to mope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Need of Sympathy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ronsoftie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ronsoftie/gifts).



It took Leon five attempts to turn his alarm off the first time and he didn't want to think about how many times he had hit snooze by the time he had managed to emerge from his cocoon of blankets. His head felt like it weighed ten times what it should and as though somebody had stuffed it full of sawdust. His brain might not be as sharp as it usually was but it really didn't take a genius to work out that he had a cold. And he knew exactly who was responsible for giving it to him.

Or at least he knew who he was blaming and that was Owen, the four year old son of Gwen and Lance. It had been his birthday party over the weekend (attendance had been compulsory) so there had been hordes of snot-nosed children running around. No question about it, one of them had infected him. He knew that there was a reason Gareth and Elaine, Percy and Elena's twins and his godchildren, were his favourite.  Besides the fact that they were his godchildren, they were only six months old and so had spent the whole party either asleep inside or being fed. No, it had to be one of the plague rats masquerading as one of Owen's friends.

He couldn't help but be grateful that Gwaine was away on a shoot because he would have a field day at the way that Leon was feeling. Leon was not good in the slightest at being ill. In fact, he was positively horrid at it. Morgana maintained that it was because he was a man and thus he didn't get a cold, he got "man-flu" and said that Merlin and Arthur were just as bad. Leon maintained that he was so rarely ill that when he was he got hit harder. Morgana said he was talking bollocks and, if he was being truly honest with himself, Morgana was probably right. He reached a hand out and grabbed his phone; there was no way that he was going to work today and it wasn’t as though he didn’t have enough sick days stored up.

(~*~)

By the time it had reached mid-afternoon, Leon had managed to drag himself out of bed but had only made it as far as the living room where he had promptly collapsed in a heap on the sofa. He knew that he should probably think about getting some food or at least something to drink but, well, he had fallen a little behind in the whole ‘shopping for food’ thing and he was fairly certain that there was nothing in the fridge other than milk and a couple of ready meals that really should have been tossed weeks ago. Hard as it was to believe, Gwaine was actually the cooking god out of the two of them (and yes, he had tried cooking naked several times – it hadn’t worked) whereas Leon was more than happy to live off takeaways or eat out the majority of the time. Hell, he would eat Burger King and Subway all the time if it meant that he didn’t have to try and cook. Leon in the kitchen was begging for culinary disaster.

He had fallen asleep in front of the Vicar of Dibley box-set so was startled awake by the sound of the front door flying open and the loud voice of Morgana followed by Gwen’s quieter tones. He found himself drowsing again before he felt as though somebody was watching him; he didn’t need to open his eyes to know that it would be Morgana.

“’Gana, why are you here?”

“Well, you’ve slept through at least six phone calls from lover-boy since the party on Saturday and he’s worried about you so he phoned me. I think he was worrying about you being dead or something.”

“Feels like it.”

“You’re not dying Leon, you have man-flu. We worked it out when Owen started coughing and spluttering yesterday. Seeing as Gwaine’s away, we assumed that you would have nothing in the flat so we brought supplies. I bought out half of Boots’ and Gwen’s brought you all of the essentials from Waitrose.” Morgana leaned in conspiratorially, “You can tell she’s a mum now; she’s made you soup and everything!”

Leon couldn’t help but laugh at that, only to grimace as it set off a hacking cough, leaving him gasping for breath. When he had got his breath back, he looked up through watery eyes to see Morgana looking at him sympathetically.

“Go and get a hot shower, the steam might help with your cough a little bit. Gwen’s heating up some soup for you now and it should be ready when you get out.”

Morgana stood and stared at him until he levered himself to his feet and stumbled off in the direction of the bathroom, cannoning off a variety of walls as he was now apparently incapable of walking in a straight line. Although, it wasn’t helped by the fact that he refused to emerge completely from the duvet until the bathroom was half-filled with steam from the heat of the shower.

By the time that he got out, he was reluctant to admit that Morgana was right and he was feeling slightly more human by the time that he got out and put on a fresh pair of pyjamas, an oversized pair of socks and one of Gwaine’s hoodies. The flat was quiet when he finally emerged and, wandering through into the kitchen, he found a steaming hot bowl of soup, a plate of sandwiches, glass of orange juice, what looked like half a pharmacy, his phone and a note from Morgana.

_Leon,_

_Firstly, don’t you feel much better after a shower? You don’t have to say that I’m right because, of course, I always am. Eat the food and drink the juice that Gwen has left you; remember the old adage ‘feed a cold, starve a fever’. Take two of the Max Flu capsules, two spoonfuls of the Potter’s Cough Syrup (you’ll need to drink some water after) and rub some of the Vicks into your chest. I’ll phone you later to see how you’re feeling. Gwaine will be Face Timing you in about fifteen minutes._

‘ _Gana xx_

He smiled as his phone rang and Gwaine’s face appeared on the tiny screen. “Hi, Gwaine.”

“Woah, Morgana wasn’t lying when you looked like shit. How are you feeling, gorgeous?”

Sympathy … that was all Leon had needed all along to feel better. And Gwaine.


End file.
